The kids cheered, and scrambled across to fight for the item they most wanted. Or the one with the nicest smell. She couldn’t tell.
She looked at the Professor, who gave her a tiny shrug.
“Professor Harrison!” It was one of the receptionists. She must have just started work for the morning. “Professor. There’s a policeman here to see you. He says it is urgent.”
The Professor’s gaze flicked to Sarina, then to the young woman. “I’m coming.”
Sarina waited a few moments then followed them down the corridor from a distance, until she could peek around the corner. The Professor was obscuring the policeman and already talking animatedly. He reached across the desk for a pen, revealing the man in front of him.
Sarina quickly pulled back behind the corner feeling her heart pounding. Chief Inspector Bolton! What was he doing here? From her previous experience with the Inspector, she knew he had the capacity to slow them to a crawl—and time was something they had precious little of.
She ran back down the corridor, where Agent Smith was starting to get the kids organised to go down to the lift. They were obviously waiting for the Professor. They each clutched an Intensifier.
“Er, Mr Smith! I think you’d better get the kids into the bus and ready to leave as soon as the Professor and I arrive. I’ll wait for him. He might be a bit delayed ...”
The Agent nodded, and turned to the children with his best agent-smile and asked if one of them would go to the lift and ‘Please press the button’ while the rest followed.
Lena raced off, her pony tail flying in the air behind her.
Sarina nodded to the Agent and ran back up the corridor, and straight into the Professor. “Has he gone?” she said, panting for breath.
He shook his head. “No. It’s worse. I have to go with him—and he is looking for you and Nathan too. Someone has also reported seeing Valkrog, so we have little time to act.”
“Little time? Without you—” she stared at him.
He had pulled out a notebook from his pocket and had the pen from the reception in his hand. “You will be able to do this without me, Sarina.”
He finished scribbling and ripped off the note and thrust it at her. “I made an excuse to get my briefcase so I could show them the permissions granted to me by the kids’ parents. But really, I needed to give you these. The first line of numbers must go in left-to-right. The second line from right-to-left; twice.”
He looked at her directly in the eyes. “Then press the grey button three times—it’s all written down here—after which you will have only a five minute window before you breach a dark rem threshold. In that five minutes you must open a portal for Nathan and try to bring him back. Whether or not you succeed, you must hold down the grey button for five seconds to abort the sequence. Whatever happens, I’m pretty sure this is our only chance, I’m not sure how many more times it is even physically possible without greater and greater risk to us all. Dark rem is not something I ever wished to play with.” He sighed. “But if I’d ever met anyone who had the creative brilliance with portals who could carry it off, then that person is standing right in front of me. Oh. There’s something I forgot to mention. When we use dark rem, I am of the opinion we will also appear to Nathan as nightmarish figures, so make sure you are prepared. Have some way you can convince him you are who you say you are.”
She nodded. Everything was crashing down on her at once.
He squeezed her tight in a hug and started running to his office, looking back at her as he did. “Hurry, Sarina. I will keep them talking while Agent Smith drives you out.”
She shouted after him. “Professor! Why the headshields?”
He yelled back as he ran. “Just in case!”
In case of what? And what happened if this ‘threshold’ was exceeded?
She felt she was shrinking and the whole world was speeding away from her. She looked down at the piece of paper in her hand. In her other hand was Nathan’s sock.
Crunch time.
She took a deep breath and ran to the lift. She took the time during the impossibly slow descent to pull herself together. Now was not the time to lose it. And definitely not the time for bouts of madness to strike. Oh please let everything work!
The lift opened and she ran to the bus. She climbed in and shook her head at the Agent in the driver’s seat. “He had to go with the police. He’s delaying them so we can leave before they discover us.” The Agent nodded and wasted no time moving the bus forward. She had barely found a seat when the bus was racing up the ramp and through the rising gate, the antenna making tinging sounds as it scraped the steel bars lifting out of their way.
In a short while they were at the warehouse. Agent Smith let them off the bus and they entered the building, past another agent guarding the door. Sarina stopped with Agent Smith to talk to the other agent.
“Have there been any signs of ... you know—”
The agent guessed what she was referring to. “Just one, Miss. When it saw us here, it gave up and flew off. It’s badly injured. We haven’t seen it since.”
She nodded, grateful the men were there, and walked in.
The machine still sat on the crate. Gleaming and blinking and now emanating a low thrum, it encapsulated for her a mix of terror and salvation. She looked down at the piece of paper in her hand, then back at Lena and the other kids, waiting for her instructions.
How had she ended up in this position? One minute blissfully painting her heart out, the next having bouts of madness which led to her saving the world with a strange machine and a bunch of enthusiastic kids?
She heaved a big sigh, forced a smile and walked over to the anxious group. “Here’s what we are going to try to do. I want you to construct a portal and hold it in focus, while I direct it. This time we will use a different part of the machine which is more powerful, but”—she looked at each of them in turn—“it will make the horrible visions appear even more real. Please promise me you will use Nathan’s things and keep them close to your face at all times.” They nodded, with serious expressions.
“Remember what the Professor said. Anything scary is not real, but you won’t be able to use artistic thought to battle it like you have before when you make the thought-paintings. The only thing that will work is to think of something strong and positive. Something you can remember and make a picture of in your head while you focus on the portal. It’s a lot to think about at once. Do you think you can do it?”
They all nodded in unison.
“Who has thought of something inspiring already?” In the bus she had made up her mind to make sure the kids were safe and vowed to take the time no matter what her insides were screaming at her. And they were screaming.
Lena had her hand raised, naturally. And she was beaming. That was a good sign. “Yes, Lena, what did you think of?”
The girl’s smile broadened. “I thought of the perfect thing!”
Sarina felt her heart lift and smiled. “What is it? Maybe the rest of us can use it too!”
Lena looked proud. “You, of course.”
Sarina felt her heart sink again. She faked a bigger smile, and was about to ask Lena for another choice when she saw the nods, smiles and bright eyes on the rest of the kids’ faces. Lena’s choice had hit the spot for the others too. Oh well. Whatever they did now was in the hands of the Gods. And her hands apparently, as she looked at the pathetic sock and crumpled note with the Professor’s codes.
“Great idea, Lena!” She held a fixed grin. “Can the rest of you imagine me in your mind too?”
An enthusiastic chorus of ‘Yes, Sarina!’ echoed around the warehouse.
No pressure, huh, Professor?
“Okay then, we’re in a big hurry to save Nathan, so can everyone get in a circle again while I program the machine with the Professor’s instructions?”
They spread out around the crate while Sarina undid the cage and lifted it off, with difficulty. Jimmy rushed up to help share the load. “Thanks,” she said,
groaning.
The keypad taunted her. She looked at the first line of codes. ‘Enter the first line left-to-right’. She looked at the kids. “Everyone ready?” No one was smiling now. Only grim looks of determination, mismatched to young, innocent faces. They each nodded and placed their Intensifiers on their heads.
She turned back to the keypad. “Boldness has genius,” she muttered, and entered the first line. The second line beckoned. ‘Enter twice, right-to-left, then press the grey button three times’. Hesitantly she keyed the line in. Twice. Then hovered her finger over the grey button. And pressed three times.
The machine clunked and the thrum’s note deepened. A row of lights turned solid red. A timer displayed on the small screen next to the keypad and started counting down from 05:00.
She looked at the dreamer-kids. “We only have five minutes. Let’s make that portal and bring Nathan back.” They all switched their yellow hats on and pushed the sliders to maximum. She concentrated on Nathan. And held his sock tight in her hand. A faint square portal sprang into life above the collider. Sarina willed it over on its side and tilted it vertically so it became a window.
The portal boundaries were unlike the others she had seen. This one crackled, and looked spiky and ugly. Like barbed wire. She looked around at the kids. So far, so good. All of them were staring intently at the portal. Some had already got their smelly items close to their noses.
“Alright everyone. Increase your attention on the portal, and I will try to zoom in to Nathan. Get ready to pull him out, if we can.”
The portal shimmered briefly and expanded to double-size. It hovered directly in front of Sarina. She saw through it a dark forest trail, and started to pull the image towards her. She raised her hand to try painting, but drew back when the portal boundary flared towards her hand, momentarily searing it with an icy sting.
She would have to do this all with her mind. She took a deep breath and stared hard into the square gap. Small figures in the distance began to enlarge. Some of them appeared to turn towards her. Now she could make out Nathan and Paolo tied to the tree. Paolo! In their quest to rescue Nathan she had made no plans to rescue Paolo! It was too late now, she would have to play it by ear. Maybe there would be enough time to bring them both through. She glanced at the timer. 2:49. Less than three minutes remaining already! She mentally crossed her fingers; please no blackouts now.
She zoomed in further. The children screamed. Black vaporous ghosts sped out of the portal window and raced around the circle, knocking Intensifiers askew and shoving the children around.
“Your smell! Smell your thing. And think of me!”
She held Nathan’s sock to her nose. It wasn’t as bad as she thought. But not exactly what you would call good, either. The gaseous ghosts whipped back into the portal and the screaming stopped. “Re-focus! We’re running out of time.” She zoomed in some more. They were almost there.
She saw Nathan and Paolo clearly now. Nathan must have seen something, because his eyes suddenly widened and he cowered down with his hands in front of his face.
“Nathan, it’s me, Sarina!” What was wrong?
Drat! A nightmare! She was appearing as a nightmare to him. What did the Professor say? Something that would convince him she was real. In the haste to leave, she’d forgotten to come up with something. Think. She glanced at the timer. 00:54. No time left. She yelled through the portal. “Nathan, who did you force-feed cough pastels?” It was the best she could come up with.
00:43.
Nathan appeared to realise something and dropped his hands. A terrible screech came from the roof and some kids started screaming again.
She didn’t look at the kids, but just yelled. “Smell. Nathan. Me!”
Come on, Nathan! Get out of those ropes and jump through!
00:19
The children were all screaming now. Some of them jumped up, tore off their helmets and ran outside. The portal blinked out.
In front of her was Valkrog, his eyes glittering.
She smelled the sock again, but she knew in her heart this was no ghostly apparition. The creature breathed noisily and with considerable difficulty. She saw one leg was incapacitated and smashed; the creature could barely put any weight on it. He screamed at her. “Give me those numbers! I must return to my world!”
She pulled the paper back behind her and backed away. The creature hopped forward, one blood-red eye blinking at her, the other puffy and closed, and raised two sharp talons.
“Now!” he shrieked, and swiped at her.
She fell backwards, just as Agent Smith flew through the air and tackled the creature to the ground, followed by the second agent. This time the injured creature was no match for the two agents and within seconds they had it pinned. Agent Smith looked back at her. “Miss. The ropes.” He jerked his head at the ropes that had previously held the bird-man.
Unable to speak, she nodded and jumped up and brought the ropes over. The two men lashed the creature to a post and gagged it with the remaining rope. “Get the straps from the bus. I’ll hold him here,” Agent Smith said to the other man.
Valkrog struggled in the ropes and Agent Smith kicked its injured leg. The creature howled though the gag and collapsed against the post, and lost consciousness.
“Sleep well,” the Agent muttered and turned back to Sarina. “Are you okay. Miss?”
She nodded. Now everything was lost! No portal, no Nathan, no Professor, no second chance to use the mach—”
Sarina yelped and ran to the machine. She’d forgotten to shut it down.
-00:55
-00:56
She pressed and held down the grey button for five seconds. The red lights all winked out and the timer display stopped at -00:56.
She breathed a sigh of relief. What did it mean, minus 56 seconds? They had gone past five minutes. Is this what the Professor had meant when he warned not to exceed the threshold?
She peered at the device. It seemed to be stable.
The timer started blinking -00:56. On and off. Rats. Now what?
She threw up her hands and looked at Agent Smith. “I have no idea if it’s safe or not. But whatever happens, we need the Professor. What do we do with that thing?” She pointed at the unconscious mass of black tattered wings.
Agent Smith surveyed the scene. “I will arrange for him to be taken away to a locked facility. I expect Professor Harrison will want to question him. Knowing the Professor, he will have talked his way out of the situation with the police as quickly as he can. Let’s get the kids back in before we trigger any more reports of wild happenings, and arrange for them to get back to the lab.”
Sarina watched as Agent Smith went outside and started to usher the kids back in. The other agent appeared with some straps of the type used to secure large loads to trucks, and secured the creature, tightening the straps and showing no mercy as he did so.
The children huddled up to Sarina and she rubbed the heads of the smaller ones.
Lena looked up at her. Her cheeks were tear-stained. “Thank you, Sarina.”
“What for?” She didn’t think the kids should be thanking her. If she thought about it, the reverse would be more appropriate.
“You distracted the thing so we could escape and get the man. Your idea to smell something of Nathan’s worked too.” She wrinkled her nose and looked down at an old t-shirt of Nathan’s. “This one needs a wash.”
Sarina managed a smile. She suddenly felt old compared to these kids. “I owe all you a great thanks, and so does the Professor. We might have got Nathan out if it wasn’t for that thing.” She glanced at Valkrog, now being removed by some agents who had sprung from nowhere. Now how were they going to get Nathan back?
“How will Nathan get back here now?” Lena said.
Sarina sighed. “I was just thinking the same thing. We have to get everyone back to the lab and wait for the Professor. In the meantime, I’ll try to think of something.” Other than her friends being burned alive, she tho
ught. “Let’s sit down and you can all tell me what nasty things you saw and how you used your superpowers to make them go away.”
“Me first!” Nancy’s hand shot up.
“Sure, Nancy! Sit down, everyone and we’ll start with Nancy.”
“I saw a huge black cloud of ghosts puff out of the hole, and they raced around and bashed me like the wind!”
The rest of the kids started talking immediately. “Me too!” “I saw them too!”
“Shhh.” Sarina held up her hand. “Sounds like we all did. Let’s hear it from Nancy. Maybe she missed something, or saw something you didn’t.”
“Then I smelled this”—she held up Nathan’s cap—“and they went away and I saw Nathan a bit. In my head. Your idea was really clever, Sarina.” Her expression dropped and she looked crestfallen. “But we didn’t get Nathan.”
Jimmy held up his hand and Sarina nodded at him. “When I thought about you, I imagined you floating in the air above Nathan. It was like you were really there and I was ... with you.” He sat down and the rest of the kids nodded and fell silent.
She felt the need to keep their spirits up. “That just goes to show how amazing your minds are. With the Professor’s help, I’m sure we’ll—”
The rest of her sentence was drowned out by the police sirens.
Agent Smith was at the door of the warehouse. He looked over at Sarina. “Miss. The machine. Hide it. I’ll stall them.”
Sarina nodded and jumped up. She ran to the collider and grabbed it. It was heavy, but not as ridiculously heavy as she expected. She turned and looked around the huge empty space for any clue as to where to hide the machine. Nothing. She heard voices at the door. Inspector Bolton! Drat! Now she would have to hide as well as the machine. She felt someone grab her arm and looked down. It was Lena.
Lena pulled her along. “There’s a small tunnel at the other end. You can squeeze into it. When I was here before with Mr Ugly Bird we played hide-and-seek.” They rushed to the end of the warehouse and Sarina saw that Lena was right. It was easy to miss, but a small door was set into the wooden wall. Lena opened it and a mouldy smell rushed out at them.
The Dreamer Chronicles Trilogy Boxed Set Vol I - III: A Sci-Fi Parallel Universe Adventure (The Dreamer Chronicles - Science Fiction For Kids And Adults) Page 52
